Review: Keeper Chronicles: Awakening by Katherine Wynter

Urban fantasy Keeper Chronicles: Awakening by Katherine Wynter is a fantastic adventure with demonic activity, romance and psychic powers all wrapped up in the beauty and magic of a lighthouse seascape.

Author Wynter brings alive the setting from the first page. Readers will be able to taste the salty waves as they crash into the powerful lighthouse at Cape Creek Bridge as lightning strikes. Rebekah is our protagonist, but there are a number of other female players, all with strong personalities from the off. Rebekah is a hardy and rounded heroine that will carry with the reader during her turmoil as she faces her lighthouse-keeper father’s secrets, and discovers a hidden darkness in their lives. The idea that a demon is drawn to the lighthouse’s dazzling lamps is undoubtedly a great urban legend for the beginning of this series.

Wynter writes,

“It’s a little known fact that demons, upon first entering the human world, are drawn to bright light. Keepers have debated many reasons for this over the centuries…”

And so begins a fascinating leap into the netherworld of lighthouse keepers’ real job: To be demon hunters. Starting with a harpy, a second-order demon with the body of a woman and a bird, and the body of a half-man, half-crab demon slain earlier, Gabe, the son of neighboring lighthouse keepers carries his machete and crossbow at all times. Rebekah’s father has sheltered her from the awful truth about his job, until now, when it becomes impossible to hide the nature of his profession…And so begins Keeper Chronicles.

The nautical legends and seascape mix beautifully with this story, Wynter obviously crafting her universe from first-hand experiences in the Oregon area. There’s no doubt this is a wonderfully imagined story, but it’s the research and hooks into reality that make the fantasy really shine here.

The romance between Rebekah and Gabe is inevitable from the off, but it doesn’t stop it being well-written and fun as ex-boyfriend/girlfriend trying to stop hell on earth. Because they are such likeable characters, it would be hard not to root for them as they tackle extreme situations from the bed and breakfast in Rebekah’s lighthouse.

There definitely a whole world to be explored here, and Wynter is right to make this a series. Not only is this an original take on the demon hunter premise, but it’s also incredibly detailed and exciting too. Keeper Chronicles: Awakening should find a solid reader base as it ticks all the boxes of an urban fantasy bestseller series. The only disappointment will be when you finish the last page and have to wait for the next installment to be released. A creepy and epic story to thrill urban fantasy fans from a talented narrator with so much to offer readers who invest in this series. Recommended.